UK house prices grow at lowest rate since 2012
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Wednesday 18 Sep 2019
(Sharecast News) - UK house prices grew by less than 1.0% in July, official data showed on Wednesday, the lowest annual growth rate since 2012.
The Office for National Statistics said average house prices in the UK increased by 0.7% in the year to July, down from 1.4% in June. The increase was the lowest since September 2012, when it was 0.4%.
Over the past three years, uncertainty about the economy and Brexit have contributed to a slowdown in UK house price growth, with the greatest weakness seen in the south and east of the country.
In July, prices fell by 2.0% in the south east. The lowest annual growth, however, was in the north east, where prices fell 2.9% in the year to July 2019.
Mike Hardie, head of inflation at the ONS, said: "Annual growth in house prices slowed to its lowest rate since September 2012, with four of the nine English regions now seeing prices falling over the year."
Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, argued that a recovery was "in sight", however.
"House prices have flatlined this year - the year-over-year growth rate remains positive only due to increases in prices of 2018 - but a recovery is now in sight," he said.
"Demand is recovering: mortgage approvals rose to a two-year high in July while the new buyer enquiries balance of the RICS Residential Market survey exceeded zero for the third consecutive month in August, having been consistently negative prior 26 months. A further fall in mortgage rates over the coming months should provide further support to demand."
The average UK house price was £233,000 in July, up £2,000 on the same period a year ago.
On a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, average house prices increased 0.5% between June and July compared with a rise of 1.2% between June and July 2018. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, average house prices decreased by 0.3% between June and July 2019.
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN